Thursday, September 19, 2013

There are those grey and rainy days when you decide it is time to sort through all those “props” and treasures and take stock of what you have collected over time. When I decided to look through all my “accessories” as I call them, I came across these lovely vintage silver pastry tongs from my great-great-aunt. I remember that no one was really interested in these ”old things” and always felt an urge to hand them over to me. Lucky me – call me old-fashioned, I pretty much love all pretty vintage things like these darling silver pastry tongs.

So, I am going to indulge a bit in my present retro feeling with a classic European cookie treat today. These pretty delicious cookies are called Viennese Whirls, they are made from a buttery shortbread and can be either piped into rosettes and filled with vanilla buttercream and some fruity jam….

…or you can choose to pipe them into lovely big swirls and dip them into dark chocolate. Both varieties taste absolutely delicious and both look very pretty. And since I could not really decide which "look" I like the best, I decided to double the recipe and prepare both kinds.

While these cookies look very fancy, they are fairly easy to make. And if you are German or lived in another European country, you are most likely familiar with these buttery treats, more probably than not the store-bought variety though. If that is the case, I highly recommend having a go at making them – they taste, on the one hand, just like you remember them, but they also taste so much better than what you find in stores from various companies. They are also fun to give as gifts or serve to your guests alongside a cup of tea – I could not help it but had to set the table using my favorite vintage tea set.

I liked the look of these Viennese Whirls as they are, but it is traditional to dust them with icing sugar and I realized that a light dusting of powdered sugar will help to highlight the pretty swirly shape of the cookies. Whether you choose to serve them dusted or au naturel they look very elegant on a plate served with tea.

Line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper or use baking mats (such as Silpat).

In a large bowl, mix together the butter, icing sugar, plain flour, corn flour, salt and vanilla seeds (or extract) until smooth. You may need to scrape the mixture down a couple of times with a rubber spatula. NOTE: the dough will be soft.

Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a large star-shaped nozzle.

Pipe out rosettes of the dough on the baking sheets that they will be baked on making sure to space them well apart (they will expand while baking). You should aim for about 40 rosettes or 16 to 20 large whirls.

Bake the cookies in the center of the oven for 13-15 minutes or until light golden-colored and firm.

Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for five minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to cool to room temperature.

If you are using seedless jam, you can skip this step - Prepare the jam and warm it in a saucepan until just boiling, then pass through a sieve to remove the seeds. Discard the seeds, and leave the sieved jam to cool until thick.

Make the filling and beat the butter, icing sugar and vanilla until smooth and pale. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a large star-shaped nozzle.

Assemble the Viennese whirls and take one biscuit as a base, add some jam, then pipe a generous amount of filling. Top with another biscuit. Do the same until all the biscuits have been used (you might have some jam and buttercream left over).

Melt the chocolate and dip one half of the cooled cookies into it to coat.

Carefully shake off some of the excess chocolate and place the cookies back onto the non-stick backing mat or lightly greased baking parchment. Leave the chocolate to set completely to avoid mess. Note: These cookies keep up to a week in an airtight cookie box.

These are fun cookies to make, when piping them just scrape any less than perfect cookies back into the piping bag and keep going, and pipe again. They also taste quite decadent, the cookies are very buttery with an unbeatable vanilla flavor. Using corn flour in the mixture makes them extra-short and crumbly, which goes fantastically well with the rich buttercream filling and fruity raspberry jam or the chocolate icing.

There is no reason to wait until you either find some vintage silver pastry tongs amongst your collected treasures or receive some as a gift, or have a retro kind of day to try out this recipe for these blissful Viennese Whirls!

41 comments:

When I made these cookies, I thought that you might like them, dear Kathy! And those tongs - well, I believe that my great-great-aunt would be happy to know that they are featured in these pictures with buttery homemade cookies!

Geraldine, once in a while I indulge a bit and feature some of my antique things that I have managed to collect over the years! The chocolate version is indeed delicious, especially when you dunk the cookies in a cup of tea!

Love the tongs, Andrea doll. I get sentimental about things like that, too!Never knew the name of these cookies, but they're very common here in our li'l town (Armenians must love 'me!)Can't wait to bake my own, thanks to you. oxo

Colette, the tongs are fun to use - when I took the pictures for this post and put together the recipe, it seemed like the kind of day that calls for some major retro feelings, dark and grey and somewhat gloomy. So what better way than to cheer up everyone than be baking these pretty cookies and brighten up their day?!

Laura, being from the UK, I am sure that you know these Viennese Whirls rather well. It is so nice to be able to re-create some childhood sweet treats later on in life and being able to marvel at how wonderful these treats can taste when you make them yourself at home using the best of ingredients that you can afford.

Everytime I come to your blog, and especially because you write in German, I feel like answering in German, but I am aware that my vocabulary is way too limited in comparison to my English... anyway, I want to give it a try! Maybe next week when I arrive in München and have the opportunity to spice up my German writting skills!Lucky that you got to have this antique silverware, gives your pictures of this wonders a perfect touch! We don't have almost any old beauty around here, because my mom isn't very fond of them...This cookies are beautiful and seem so easy to make! I think I will make them for my little "see you later Portugal" party on Saturday, but I'm afraid they won't look as sttuning as yours! Here in Portugal we can also find this cookies in the supermarkets, and they also sell them in some bakeries and pastry or cake shops :)Gutes Wochenende!

Inês, you are such a kind person - loving all your thoughtful comments! I certainly hope that my compatriots in Munich will treat you in the best and most kind way possible! I am sure that you will love living in Munich, it is amazing there and the food is wonderful too, so very different probably from what you are used to from lovely Portugal! My dear, make those cookies, they are incredibly easy to bake and as long as you use a sturdy piping bag with a large star-shaped tip, you will be all set - no need to decorate them either or make a filling, a dusting with confectioners´ sugar will suffice!

Enjoy your "see you later, Portugal" party, and all the very best for a terrific start in Bavaria!!!

Oh, my! Andrea - these are so beautiful and I really love the pastry tongs! I, too, love vintage pieces that have very specific uses - berry spoons, sauce spoons, asparagus tongs and the like. I can almost taste these cookies now - how perfectly tender they are as you bite into them. I need - yes, NEED - to get a decent pastry bag with large tips. I also need the very small ones, too. Thank you for sharing this - what a treat it would be to have tea with you! ~ David

Dear David, I have noticed that we share yet another, may I call it "passion" for those spoons and forks and tongs with specific uses - so, when I finished this post the other day, I rushed into my favorite store that carries these vintage things because I had seen two similar pastry tongs on display there, alas, they were sold a day before I went there but I will keep my eyes open for another set - it will find its way to Tuscon then!

And a big "hooray" that the book has finally arrived and a big "yes" to co-posting in November! I can´t wait! How do you like the book so far? - Andrea

These are one of my favourite biscuits, I remember we had to make these in class under the tuition of our Swiss Pastry Chef, we made hundreds in all sorts of different shapes. Each design had to be uniform in size but my piping skills were a bit lacking to say the least so mine all looked a bit different - they tasted good though! I love the silver tongs very elegant..

Karen, those siver tongs add a nice touch whenever I put them on the table and they remind me of my great-great-aunt, wnhich is also nice. I am sure that you piped hundreds of these cookies during your classes to become a professional pastry chef - you know, of course, that "practice makes perfect" and I am sure your cookies were fabulous!

SUCH ADORABLE PASTRIES AND BEAUTIFUL WAY OF USING THOSE LOVELY ANTIQUE TONGS...AREN'T SUCH VINTAGE GIFTS REAL TREASURES...THEY FILL US WITH SWEET MEMORIES AND HAPPINESS...PERFECT VIENNESE SWIRLS....THERE IS SO MUCH INSPIRATION IN EVERY RECIPE ON YOUR BLOG...WE LOVE LEARNING FROM THEM,THANKS FOR THE INSPIRATION OUR FRIEND...HAVE A BEAUTIFUL DAY!!! :-)

Oh my goodness Andrea, you've brought back some fun memories for me. I worked on summer in Sweden in a wonderful restaurant on the sea. I was the dishwasher and spent all day in the kitchen. They kept the "spritz" cookies in a large container right near where I worked everyday. I would help myself quire frequently as they were buttery, crisp and fantastic. I think I put on a few pounds that summer from the spritz cookies alone! These are even more dangerous with that delicious sounding filling! They sound quite hopelessly irresistible!

mmmmmhhhh.... the viennese whirls filled with jam look incredible!!! I never had them with jam before, what a great idea!! Would love to have one of those beauties with a nice cup of hot tea... *dream* :) Have a wondeful week dear Andrea! xox Amy

Amy, thanks for the lovely comment - I am sure that you would enjoy one or two of these jam & vanilla buttercream-filled Viennese Whirls!Have a good week, my dear, hope the weather in CH is better than here!

Hi Andrea. I don't know what I'm more enamored with...the cookies or the beautiful silver. I, like you, am a lover of all things vintage. I have been amassing the old wares of many family members. Thank you for sharing. What a delicious way to end my weekend and start my week.

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